F 74 
.L6 L55 
Copy 1 



Leominster Historical 
=^=1 Societi^ I I I ' 




EXERCISES AT THE ERECTION OF A 

STONE IN MEMORY OF THE 

FIRST SETTLER 



Leominster Historical Society 



EXERCISES 



AT THE UNVEILING OF THE BOULDER 

MARKING THE SITE OF THE 

FIRST HOUSE ERECTED 

IN LEOMINSTER, 

1725 



1725—1910 



June Twenty-Third, Nineteen-ten 



f 74- 



</'^'. 



T 



^ 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
By the President, Perley M. Russell. 

Friends and Citizens of Leominster : 

We have gathered here today to commemorate the building 
of the first house in Leominster and to honor those who built 
better than they knew in the early days of pioneer life and 
frontier settlement. 

One hundred and eighty-five years ago it was no easy task to 
build a house, for everything had to be done in a primitive way 
and it took courage and perseverance to accomplish even a 
humble habitation. 

Fifteen years later, one hundred and seventy years ago to- 
day, the town was incorporated, another important event in its 
history. This was the natural order of the growing settle- 
ment when it realized the importance of a more united gov- 
ernment. 

Leominster has had an honorable record from the begin- 
ning and the citizens of today should feel proud of her growth 
and of the men who have promoted it. 

With the co-operation of Mr. John Yule, who designed and 
made it we plant here a monument, that will tell the story of 
Leominster's beginning to the future generations. 

Without further remarks I welcome you all most heartily in 
behalf of the Leominster Historical Society to the remaining 
exercises of the day. 



4 LEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

PEAYEE OF DEDICATION. 
By Eev. George Eandolph Baker. 

Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 
Help us to realize that in Thee we live and move and have our 
being. Make us to know that it is Thyself who hast brought 
us unto this hour; that Thou hast chosen the place of our 
habitation and determined the manner of our life. We make 
confession — the sense of Thy presence humbles us. We have 
spoken foolishly, boasting ourselves saying, mine hand hath 
gotten me this good, blind to the toil of our brother by our 
side, and still more forgetful of what we have received from 
our fathers. Make us more thoughtful, teach us to look back- 
ward and think of those who have endured hardness, and 
given us so much of worth. May we see the value of our in- 
stitutions, and civilization, as we see its cost ; how generations 
have toiled that we might have. Give us the vision of the un- 
finished task, the sense of fellowship and partnership, with 
the strong, the eager, the believers of all the ages. 

God, our Father, thou dost give us a vision. We see as from 
afar the light of a glorious day. We see the wilderness blos- 
soming as the rose, and the thirsty land a pool of water. More 
splendid yet, in Thy day we see an even kindly justice, pre- 
siding over the affairs of men, and the strength of each is for 
the service of all; make us the heralds of the better day, and 
may these hands pass a richer heritage than we have received. 

Eternal God, "a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yes- 
terday when it is past and as a watch in the night," teach us 
patience, that we may not fail nor be discouraged until Thou 
hast set judgment in the earth. 

Almighty God be near us now. We dedicate a stone. Thy 
blessing on our act. We would have it a stone of remem- 
brance ; a memorial of the brave man and woman who made 
here a home. We would have it a memorial of Thy goodness. 
"Hitherto hath Jehovah helped us." We would have this stone 
a shrine, where we and all who see may pledge service, know- 
ing that Thy word doth not return to Thee void and an act 
of good never passes into nothingness. 

In the name of Christ we pray. 

Amen. 



POEM. 
By Caroline I, Chaney. 

Shut out these safe, fair homesteads from your sight, 
These broad, green fields, these herds of feeding kine. 
The smooth, wide roadways, — all the fruitful trees : 
Shut out the neighboring voices and the din 
Of distant labor at the humming wheels. 

Now gaze, in fancy, on vast wooded slopes 
With pools and lakelets in the sheltered depths, 
And little streams, quick with the leaping trout. 
Where shadowy forms of the great lounging bear 
And the shy deer slip into deeper shade. 
On these steep hillsides lurks the catamount. 
And the sharp rattle of the roused snake 
Answers the light tread of the frightened deer. 
Here silence dwells, save for the woodland birds, 
The squirrel's chatter and the drumming grouse 
And the wolf's night-cry, howling down the wind; 
Silence, not safety, for an ambushed foe 
Kesentful of his treaty wi'ongs may hide 
At the sharp turn of the deep, wildwood road 
And his keen whoop resound in the calm air. 

Almost two centuries gone, into this wild 
There came a man, wary, with axe and gun. 
Came, strong and full of joy at facing life. 
The primal instinct of the man, the bird 
To make a home, to build a nest was his. 
Wherein to shelter spouse and helpless young. 
Long before sunrise and when day was done 
Still rang the axe among the boding pines. 
The sturdiest oaks, to his young, strenuous arm 
Bowed their great heads and made obeisance low. 
No count of time while light to see, was his. 
Then dreamless sleep, till the dim dawn awoke. 

The while he cleared and tilled this very spot. 
Whereon to build his simple house of logs, 
His ready gun close to his hand still stood, 
For he remembered savage massacre. 
No sport he made of killing the shy friends 
Whose life was sweet, as his was sweet to him : 



O LEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Alas ! But he must kill to live, in this wild place 
Till the new home shall give him roof and field. 
Long, weary miles, led the blazed trail to home — 
The old home, wife and child, in that fair place 
\\^ere the great river swirled and fretted on, — 
Fair Lancaster, swift by the Indian foe 
With fire and torture and captivity 
Swept into silence and black waste : nor time 
Had dulled the horror of that dreadful day 
But fearsome courage builded homes anew 
While keen-eyed scouts stood by, to 'fend the toil. 

The face of this first builder know we not. 
Or was he small and lithe, or gaunt and grim. 
How housed the soul, it little recks to know. 
His strong hands held the first subduing power 
That changed the wild to this fair dwelling place. 
Here is the work, established, of his hands. 
And here, the stone to mark the first home, stands. 
How little thought he, as he labored on 
Of what should follow that first planting made. 
How rich the harvest by his children reaped. 
What bitter tares should grow beside the wheat 
Even to the garnering, — how, as with fire 
The tares should burn, the wheat be gathered in. 
Beset are we with dangers far more keen. 
Perils of soul and body greater far 
Than he, alone with savages and beasts. 
Good, clean, wild beasts, that may make food and fur: 
And Indians, not yet civilized to crime. 
As little thought he, as we think today 
Of the strange foes two hundred years may bring 
Beyond our lives and what we care for now. 
Thank Heaven, we cannot know the future days ! 
Creative Wisdom never showed more wise. 

The ancient place of graves treasures his name, — 
The toiling man is now but formless dust, 
The sturdy logs that built his first rude home 
Long since are ashes. But no atom knows 
Utter extinction. This we surely know, 
Nothing is lost, no least, created thing. 
It lives, it works, though in vast, silent rocks, 
Though in sweet, dancing grasses of the field 



Transformed so wide. Yet the informing power 
Never forgets its homes. This shall we see 
When we have eyes to see. Time still goes on. 

No one hath seen him pass, 
Yet Time's gray footprints blight the hardy grass, 

And his long shadow lowers 

Over the shrinking flowers. 
There is no grace like that of gratitude, 
Shall we forget the early settlers here, 

Their names, their homes, their brave and patient lives! 
Shall we be thoughtless of the careful gifts 
From their small substance, to upbuild our town 
Our church, our state, that we, secure may live? 
Home toil, all working, gave to all a home 
And something still to give, something to save, 
From the same lands our luxury would decry, — 
Those who would save the nation must beware. 
Two foes will our Republic's conquerors prove, — 
Luxury and waste, in cottage and in hall. 
The frugal nation holds the master hand. 

Truth and tradition oft lie far apart 
But work and birth and death are close and sure. 
At one end of the span springs into life 
The worker. Then the varied arch of light 
Eises, or bright, or dim, as rules the sun 
Yet, at the end, fades quite away in death. 

Graves — more graves ! 
Under blue skies, under blue waves : 

Man, just grasping the full cup, dies. 

And a new babe cries. 
Their narrow bed, in undisturbed repose, 
Oh, grudge them not, our hardy pioneers, 
But teach the young, and our own hardening hearts 
To cherish sacred dust and guard its rest. 
Let not a heathen race, crowded and poor 
Striving for simply food to keep alive, 
Teach us this grace, by their great reverence 
For their forefathers' graves, for ages long, untouched. 
Our fathers' day is done, yet gleams the afterglow. 
Today is nearly spent, — few more todays we know. 
"Good morrow !" voices call, from the fast fading light, 
"The morning cometh ever, morning after the night." 



» liEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

HISTOEICAL ADDRESS. 
By H. Wilson Gibbs. 

Members of the Leominster Historical Society and Friends : 

We are reminded at times by certain writers that civiliza- 
tion should pause in what seems to them a feverish and peril- 
ous advance, and hark back to the advice of those who have 
lived in the past. 

We are not here today to hark back to the past, but to live 
back in memory for a while in the time of him, who was the 
first settler in Leominster, There is a poem, the first two 
stanzas of which seem appropriate for this occasion — 

Away from the bustle and hurry ; 

Away from the care and strife, 
Away from the toil and worry. 

Away from the city life. 

Away in the quiet country, 

Enjoying the fresh, pure air. 
To the weary city toiler 

What peaceful rest is there. 

We have come away from our cares and worries today, we 
have left the shops and factories, the stores and offices, we 
have left the steam and electric roads, and all that makes 
modern Leominster, to come up here where the beginning of 
the town was. There always has to be a beginning, it makes 
no difference what is done; whether it is the creation of a 
World or a Nation or a State, town or river, or in building 
a railroad, there has to be the first shovel of dirt thrown. 
Some time, somewhere, in some way, there has to be a begin- 
ning to every thing. 

Some friends of mine once told me that they had drank 
from the spring that is the source of the Connecticut Eiver. 
That spring has little to do with the waters flowing over the 
two million dollar dam at Holyoke or under the million dol- 
lar bridge at Hartford, but, nevertheless, it is the beginning 
of the river. The little English colony that settled on the 
coast of Virginia in the year 1G07 was a very small and weak 
affair and after a few years of hard struggle they were ready 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 9 

to pull up stakes and return to England, when news came to 
them of the settlement of the Pilgrims on the New England 
coast. 

Then they came to the conclusion that they would stay : 
they had got neighbors now only four hundred miles away. 

That colony had little to do with this nation of ninety mil- 
lions of people, but it was the beginning, and the settlement 
at Plymouth Rock in December, 1620, was another small af- 
fair. One half of the Pilgrims died before the mayflowers 
bloomed in the spring, and they were buried in the sand and 
all traces of their graves obliterated for fear that the Indians 
would find out how weak the colony was growing. 

That settlement was the beginning of our Commonwealth. 

When, in the year 1725, Gershom Houghton erected the 
first house here it was the beginning of Leominster. Mr. 
Houghton was born in Lancaster in the year 1691. 

In the Antiquarian room of our new library there is a deed 
that reads in part as follows : 

To all People to whome these presents shall come, — Greet- 
ing, Know yee, that I, Robert Houghton of the town of Lan- 
caster, In the County of Middlesex, In the Province of the 
Massachusetts Bay, in New England, Yeoman, for & in con- 
sideration of ye love I have for my son Gershom Houghton 
of sd Lancaster, & the Great Desire I Have for his comfort- 
able settlement : and in part of his Portion : Do by these pres- 
ents for myselfe. My Heirs, Executors & Administrators & 
with the free Consent of Hester my now married wife : freely 
fully & Absolutely Give Grant Convey Ratify Bequeath & 
Confirm unto my sd son Gershom Houghton above named all 
that my first Divission Lott of Upland in the New Addition 
of Land formerly Purchased of George Tohanto & some other 
Indians & since Confirmed by the Great & Generall Assembly 
of sd Province, & by them added to the Township of sd Lan- 
caster : 

My sd Lott therein being the third in number accord- 
ing to my Draught & as entered in the Records of sd Land & 
upon y northwest side of the fall Brook a little distant from 
it, & Bounded Northerly by the Lott which was the Lott of 
Capt. Thomas Wilder: & southerly by the Lott of James 
Wilder: my sd Lott containing by estimation about fourty 
acres, be it more or Less : also all my Medow Lott in the sd 



10 LEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Tract of Land, & Lyeth betwixt y Lott of Thomas Carter on 
the westerly side or southwest & the Ministerial! Lott on y 
Northeasterly side, & butts at each end on upland : My sd Lott 
Lying for five acres more or less, as the same was made out 
for two acres of Cleer Medow & three acres of Swamp : in Lieu 
of one acre of Medow : also one halfe of my Eight in the Re- 
maining part of sd Tract of Land & privilege accordingly in 
the Commonage & in the Division Last Granted to be Laid 
out & in all after Divisions thereof : all the said Grant par- 
cells of Land & Medow, with one half of my Eight & Privi- 
leges thereto belonging as aforesaid : be the same more or less 
in Quantity or Quality, to be to him my sd son, y above named 
Gershom Houghton : to him. His Heirs executors Administra- 
tors & Assignes TO Have And to Hold: & quietly & peace- 
ably to Possess & enjoy the same, in a sure possession & estate 
of Inheritance In fee for Ever, without any Lawfull Lett, 
Denial, eviction, ejection. Molestation, Disturbance or Con- 
tradiction from or by me the sd Eobert Houghton : or any 
my Heirs, executors or Administrators : or from or by any 
other Person or Persons by, from or under me, the sd Eobert 
Houghton, or any my Heirs or Assigns : or by or under any 
other Pretence whatsoever : Lawfully Claiming or Having any 
Eight, Title or Interest therein or to any part thereof, whereby 
my sd son Gershom Houghton, or any his Heirs, executors, 
Administrators or Assignes, shall or may by any meanes at 
any time be molested in or ejected out of the quiet & Peace- 
able Possession of all or any part of the above granted 
pmisses : & for the true & full Performance of all as above 
Granted & expressed, I, the sd Eobert Houghton, Have Here- 
unto set my Hand & seall this fourth Day of November, In 
the tenth yeare of the Eeign of our Lord George of Great 
Brittain &c King Anno Domini one thousand seven Hundred 
& twenty three. 

Signed, sealed & Delivered in presns of Eobert Houghton 
Jolm Houghton Jr. His Mark 

William Houghton 

Middlesex SS, November 4th, 1723 

The above named Eobert Houghton Personally appeared & 
Acknowledged the above written instrument to be his free act 
& Deed, before me John Houghton Justice of y Peace 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 11 

Middle Camb : Dec. 26th, 1723 

Eeceived and Entered with the Eegisy of sd County Lib 22 
pa 43G croff Reg. 

At the time this deed was made Lancaster was in Middle- 
sex County. A new county was created in the year 1731 out 
of parts of Hampshire, Suffolk and Middlesex counties. The 
name of the new county would probably have been Lancaster 
if the citizens of that town had been willing that Lancaster 
be made the county seat, but some of them were unwilling. 
The reason they gave was that there was always a rough ele- 
ment that gathered in a Shire town : there would be too much 
drunkenness and disorder and so Worcester was made the 
county seat, and the county named Worcester County. 

The objections of some of the citizens of Lancaster were not 
without reason, for the opening of the county court in those 
days was generally followed by a debauch that lasted through 
the sitting of the court. The nights were generally spent in 
drinking and revelry. The plaintiff or defendant that "Set 
'em up" the most frequently won his case regardless of evi- 
dence. 

The bibulous citizens for miles around would flock to the 
County seat in court time to participate in the free booze that 
was too often on tap. 

The Judges were often incompetent for their position on 
account of ignorance. The lawyers were no better: as a rule 
they knew very little about law and most of them were graft- 
ers. The legal profession in those days was not looked upon 
with much respect, and a quiet, orderly community was no^" 
anxious to be the county seat. 

The original farm was a farm of 125 acres; it has since 
been divided. 

In the year 1724 Gershom Houghton married Elizabeth 
Rugg, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Rugg, of Lancaster. 
In the following year he began the construction of a house 
here. Naturally the first thought one would have in regard 
to this house, it being the first house in town and built miles 
away from any other house, and taking into consideration the 
age in which it was built, that it was a log house, with the 
chinks between the logs filled in with clay or mortar, with a 
chimney built of stone, with oiled paper for windows, and a 
door creaking on wooden hinges, but such was not the case. 



12 LEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

It was a framed house, and well built, with hewn oak tim- 
bers. It was low studded, with the roof on the back side 
reaching nearly to the ground, a common style of architec- 
ture prevailing in those times. The chimney was largely 
built of stones, and according to tradition, Mrs. Houghton 
assisted her husband in the construction of it, by bringing 
stone in her stout, home-spun, woolen apron, and this was no 
hardship on her part, for she was a large, stout woman, and 
superintended the construction of her house and about every- 
thing else. 

Gershom Houghton was 33 years old when he was married. 
A great deal of his time previous to this he had been em- 
ployed as an Indian scout in company with a noted Indian 
scout of these days, by the name of Whitcomb. There was a 
time when the Massachusetts Colony made it very profitable 
to hunt Indians, as there was a bounty of $1,000 on Indian 
scalps. Mr. Houghton was not a large man. He was rather 
small of stature, very quick and active. He made a good 
scout and would have been a good athlete in our times. 

At the time he began this settlement the forest was the mas- 
ter of the situation. Where all the houses in town now are 
was then woods, to subdue and overcome which was man's 
first work, and here was where the silence of the primeval 
forest was first broken by the sound of the white man's axe. 

It was not Leominster then, — the land belonging to the old 
Lancaster Plantation. Leominster was born in 1725, but the 
child was not named until it was fifteen years old. In 1740 
the town was incorporated, but why it was named Leominster 
history gives us no information, and even tradition is silent. 
We are a very exclusive town, in that we share our name with 
only one other town in the world, and that 3,000 miles away, 
in old England. 

There were no Indians left in this section to cause any 
trouble. There were still left in New England some rem- 
nants of tribes that 50 years before had lived here and owned 
the territory. The land in this vicinity had belonged to the 
ISTashaways, once a numerically strong and powerful tribe. 
George Tahanto was the Chief or Sagamore of this tribe, who 
sold and deeded this land or farm to Robert Houghton and 
others in the year 1701. 

There was trouble with the Indians about 20 years after 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 13 

this settlement during the French and Indian war; detach- 
ments of Indians came do^^oi from Canada, killed some set- 
tlers, took some prisoners and burned buildings, and soldiers 
were sent to this town to protect the inhabitants, but the In- 
dians steered clear of this place for some unknown reason. 

The passage of time lends enchantment to some things and 
it certainly does to the event we commemorate today. Men 
come and go and the deeds that they do are soon forgotten. 
A man is not much of a man who does not want to do some- 
thing that will be permanent, something that will abide, some- 
thing by which to be remembered, but it falls to the lot of 
very few men to do this. By erecting this memorial here today 
we announce to the public that what Gershom Houghton did, 
has not been, and is not to be forgotten. 

Here was where the first trees were cut to be used in the 
construction of a home and the clearing of land for a farm. 
The trees gave way reluctantly and the stumps held the 
ground for a long time. 

Here was where the plow was first introduced to Leomin- 
ster soil and the cultivator and hoe were used. Here was dug 
the first cellar and the first well (and that is here now) and 
it is 20 feet deep. In this house was laid the first hearth- 
stone. This was the first house to be illuminated by the light 
of the fire-place and the tallow candle. Fire was built by 
coals brought from the nearest neighbors or by tinder box and 
flint. Here was where bread, beans and cake were baked 
in the first brick oven in town. Here was where civilization 
began with three square meals a day. 

The Indians were in the habit of eating all of the time 
when they had anything to eat, and of course when they did 
not they had to go without. It was always a case of a feast or 
a famine with them. 

Here in this house was first heard the hum of the spinning 
wheel and the pounding of the hand loom ; here hung the flint 
lock gun and the powder horn. Here was where the gourd 
dipper was first iised and the splint broom swept the floor 
clean, and the turkey wing brushed the ashes up on the hearth. 
Here was where the first baby was born and the first cradle 
rocked. Here was where the first well-sweep hung in the air 
and the old oaken bucket was used. Here first grew the wheat, 
corn and pumpkins and the lilacs and hollyhocks beside the 



14 LEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

kitchen door. In the attic of this house hung bunches of cat- 
nip, sage, motherwort, thorowort and pennyroyal, potential 
remedies for human ailments in those times. 

To this home the doctor come on horseback or in a chaise; 
if on horseback his saddle-bags would be full of medicine that 
was a decoction and it was often worse to take than the dis- 
ease. The medical fraternity labored under the hallucina- 
tion that the more ingredients that they got into a medicine 
the better it was. They were in hopes of getting in something 
that would hit the disease, and so, in this expectation, they 
put in everything that they could think of. The late Mark 
Twain wrote an article that was published in Scribners Mag- 
azine some years ago, in which he gave several of the old med- 
ical formulas; they contained from 20 to 45 ingredients, and 
he stated that trying to cure disease with such medicine was 
a good deal like trying to drive skippers out of cheese with 
artillery. But the doctors did the best they knew how; we 
have reason to be truly grateful for the advance in medical 
science since Gershom Houghton's days. 

From their home Gershom Houghton and his family went 
every Sunday that they were able to go to Lancaster to 
church. It was 18 years after he settled here before the first 
church was organized in town. He was one of the first pew 
holders. Dr. Stebbins states in his Centennial discourse, that 
"Gershom Houghton, from modesty or some other cause, took 
number eight, behind the door on the west side of the en- 
trance." He leaves it optional with us to think it was from 
modesty, and so let us think. It was a grand, good old cus- 
tom in those days for every one to go to church ; it would be 
better for the Country if the custom was more prevalent to- 
day. People need the church to tone them up spiritually, 
morally and intellectually. 

Here was where Thanksgiving and Fast Day were first ob- 
served in town : these, with military training days, were the 
only holidays then in existence, and these were not holidays. 
They were then considered more of a sacred day. The Fourth 
of July was over 50 years in the distance, great events must 
take place, and a long hard war be fought before what that 
day commemorates was consummated. 

Around this home were gathered the first accoutrements of 
civilization in town. Here was first heard the lowing of cat- 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 15 

tie, the neighing of the horse, the bleating of sheep, the bark- 
ing of the dog, the cackling of hens, and the squealing of the 
pig. No farm life would be well balanced in those days, or 
even later, without this combination, and it was doubtless all 
here sooner or later. 

The first fire in town was not built in this house. The In- 
dians in their wigwams around Lake Chualoom or Whalom 
or on the banks of the Nashaway, built the first fires; but the 
Indians did not know how to build a fire economically; more 
heat went to waste than they could utilize. But here in this 
home fire was built in a civilized and economical way for those 
times. 

Near here was the old Indian trail leading from Washa- 
kum Lake in what is now Sterling to Whalom Pond. The 
headquarters of the Nashaways was at Washakum. Here lived 
the famous Sagamore or Chief Sholan, Matthew, Shosha- 
min, Wansquan, Tohanto, and others in their day, and here 
John Elliott, the apostle to the Indians, preached the gospel 
to the Nashaways. This trail was well defined in the days of 
Gershom Houghton, but time has obliterated all traces of it. 

Here in this house sat the young couple, in the warmth and 
glow of the fire place, while the winter storms roared and 
raged without, piling the drifting snow higher and higher, 
and here, in summer time they slept, breathing the pure ozone 
of the unlimited forest, untainted by the smoke from numer- 
ous factories or railroad locomotives, and here they used to 
sit on summer evenings and watch the stars come out in the 
sky, and probably never once dreamed that they were found- 
ing a town that in 1910 would have 17,000 inhabitants. 

We are treading on historic ground, not made historic by 
Indian warfare, that has made so many places in our neigh- 
boring towns historic, for the only battle fought here was 
man's, with the adverse elements in nature for an existence, 
a battle in which man won for a time. 

To this house was built the first road: from this place the 
settlement of the town was advanced, but not at once for Mr. 
Houghton and his family were the sole residents of what is 
now the town for seven years. 

Eome was founded by one man and so was our town; in 
that distinction we are on an equality with the Eternal City. 
Gershom Houghton's family was not large ; they raised only 



16 LKOMINSTEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

two children, one son by the name of Abiathar, who married 
Judith Boiitelle. They had eleven children, none of them liv- 
ing to grow lip and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She 
married Levi Woods of Petersham, but they made their home 
in this town, and some of their descendants live here now. 

The only remnant of the old house known to be in existence 
is a diamond shaped pane of glass in one of the cases in the 
Town Museum. 

Mrs. Houghton outlived her husband and was married the 
second time to Daniel Knight, whom she also outlived, and 
for economy's sake or the lack of means she erected in the 
northeast corner of the old cemetery, a double stone, on one 
side of which is an inscription to Daniel Knight, and on the 
other an inscription to Gershom Houghton. There was not 
room enough on the stone for the whole of the word "Hough- 
ton" but a caret under part of the word indicates where you 
will find the rest. 

The inscription reads "In memory of Gershom Houghton, 
who died April 3, A. D. 1757, in the 66 year of his age" 

She was thoughtful enough to erect with loving care a stone 
to her two husbands, but her remains lie somewhere in the old 
Pine Tree Cemetery, the spot unknown and unmarked. 

Little do present generations realize the deprivations, hard- 
ships and perils of the early settlers, of those who have gone 
before and blazed the way for others to follow. We think our 
times are strenuous and we complain of our lot and do not 
realize that those who have preceded us have had a harder lot, 
and in many ways have smoothed the way for us. 

By recording their deeds on stone we in part, show our grat- 
itude to them. 

Peter Boyden bought the old house and farm in the year 
1822 of John Woods, a son of Tamar Woods. He soon after 
built a new house and took the old house down. He was suc- 
ceeded in ownership of the farm by his son, Charles, who was 
succeeded in turn by his son, William Boyden, the present 
owner. 



BEMARKS BY REV. GEORGE LEONARD CHANEY 17 

REMAEKS OF REV. GEORGE LEONARD CHANEY. 

Mr. Chaney who had been asked to speak on the value 
of a Historical Society in really historic towns, after describ- 
ing the work of the Essex Institute, the Peabody Academy of 
Science and agencies of a similar kind in Salem, spoke in 
part as follows : 

I have described some of the ways in which my native city 
preserves the increasing treasure of its antiquities and helps 
the present time to know itself by learning its past. Rightly 
to know today, we must remember the days that are gone and 
to know himself — which has been accounted man's highest 
wsdom — is to know his ancestors. 

I once heard Wendell Phillips, addressing the Phi Beta 
Kappa Society, declare in his audacious manner, that history 
was the mother of lies. As histories used to be written, his 
declaration was no lie. But we live in a time when the mate- 
rials for history are sought not alone, or chiefly in the annals 
of war and the machinations of rival kings, princes and poli- 
ticians, but in the daily living and pursuits of common peo- 
ple, in domestic ways and the doings of the shop and field. 
The records and memorials of these are found in old account 
books, old letters, old furniture, old coins, old newspapers, old 
journals — the very scum of the times as it was regarded — 
which rises to the surface in old-time attics or the dregs which 
settle in damp and unused cellars. 

It is to find and rescue these seeds of real history and to 
give them careful keeping and profitable use, that Historical 
Societies like that which dedicates this stone of memory to the 
first settler in Leominster exist. Next te the first settler, the 
first society which seeks to keep his memory green is the most 
worthy candidate for our favor and praise, and we may be 
sure that the young society which plants this memorial to- 
day, is laying the corner stone of a house of memory, which 
will endure, when all our lesser habitations are in the dust. 
Already the beginning is made. To this Peace- Abbey will be 
gathered the relics and illustrations of what we may call our 
Present-past. So close upon the heels of all we do, press the 
footsteps of all that has been done. 

By way of instance and example of the suggestive value of 
the least accounted things that enter into the customary life 



18 LEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETT 

of each and every generation, let me tell you of a pilgrimage 
I once made to the seat of the Carter family at Corotoman, 
in old Virginia. The motive of this voyage of recovery, was 
a lurking desire to identify, if possible, the Southern and 
Northern branches of a family, which had furnished so many 
ilhistrious and useful citizens to our common country. With 
William Henry Harrison and Kobert E. Lee, on the Southern 
branch, and a host of less conspicuous, but not less worthy 
buds and twigs on the northern limb, the union of the two 
families in one central trunk, if it could be traced, would be 
a happy conjunction. 

We went down the Rappahannock river from Fredericks- 
burg to Corotoman, catching glimpses of history-haunted old 
mansions, by the way, until we came to our desired haven. 
But we found and recalled the great and glorious past, only in 
its ruins. Christ Church built by Robert Carter in 1738, still 
stood in half-arrested decay, but of the mansion of King Car- 
ter, almost nothing was left to tell the lordly and romantic 
tale. The plain, hard-working farmer who leased and culti- 
vated the land, had turned up with his plow some lead, which 
showed where the walls of the great house had stood and gone 
down in fire and a few fragments of the marble pavements 
were upheaved. Besides these, nothing remained to proclaim 
the pride and grandeur of the ancient, colonial hall. But yes, 
there was one other relic. The farmer brought us two or three 
glass seals with the name of Robin Carter in them. These 
seals had been stamped upon the wine bottles which had been 
imported from France. Long buried in the ground these brittle 
survivors of forgotten feasts had acquired an irridescent hue 
and golden coating, and seemed as if striving even in their 
low estate to maintain the brilliant gentility of their first ap- 
pearance. 

Two or three bits of broken wine bottles were all that re- 
mained of the wealth, beauty and luxury that were once Cor- 
otoman. 

And yet to the brooding mind and reminiscent heart what 
a story of industrial energy and success, elegant and costly 
hospitality, transplanted luxury, enriched by the dainty con- 
tribution of seaside and forest, old custom stubbornly main- 
taining itself in the new order, what intimation and prophecy 
of what Time had in store and we have today in growing ful- 



REMARKS OF REV. GEORGE LEONARD CHANEY 19 

filment — N'ew Europe in broad America — are symbolized in 
these broken bits of glass ! 

Nothing is so small or insignificant that it may not, if long- 
kept and well observed, help to reveal to us the past or passing 
days. And what a commentary upon all our vanishing or ever- 
changing greatness of family, town or nation, this sole relic, 
a fragment of a broken wine bottle, with the name and coat 
of arms of its one-time strong and proud possessor! 

By a noteworthy coincidence, the only discoverable remnant 
of the house of Gershom Houghton which stood on this spot, 
is a diamond-shaped window pane which is preserved among 
the wrecks of time in our Town Library. 

To gather up and save and as the mood takes us, by their 
aid, to restore the past and relearn its lessons is the mission 
of the Leominster Historical Society. We invite you all to 
take part in its interesting and useful work and privilege. 

Presentation to the Town by F. R. Tucker. 

In behalf of the Leominster Historical Society, I want to 
thank all who have so kindly aided in making this celebration 
a splendid success. I want to thank especially Mr. Boyden, 
who has allowed us the use of his grounds. I wish to thank 
the honorable board of selectmen in allowing us to place this 
stone in the limits of the highway. 

And now Mr. Chairman Nutting, in behalf of the Histori- 
cal Society, I present to the Town this Marker, asking that 
it shall receive the same care as other property of the Town. 

Acceptance for the Town by E. H. Nutting. 

Mr. President. 

As Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, I accept on behalf 
of the citizens of Leominster, this Boulder, marking the place 
where the first house stood. I trust that it will be one of the 
duties of this society to see that the Selectmen or the proper 
officers when this town becomes a city, preserve this Boulder 
in its present place and condition until time is no more. 



20 LEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

The Leominster Historical Society was organized January 
31, 1906, and incorporated, November 8, 1906. 

The names of the officers and committee. 

President, Perley M. Russell. 
Vice-Presidents, H. W. Gibbs, 

Mrs. D. M. Woods. 
Secretary, Charles S. Houghton. 
Treasurer, Fred F. Hills. 
Executive Committee, 

Miss Mary A. Tolman, 

Miss Fannie P, Gates, 

Mrs. L. E. Rogers. 
Curator, Miss Florence E. Wheeler. 
Historian, Mrs. F. W. Burditt. 

The names of members of the Society : — 

Abbot, Dr. G. E. Holman, Mrs. Ira 

Bouley, Mrs. Harriet L. Houghton, Charles S. 

Brooks, Miss Emily. Hills, Fred B. 

Brigham, Dr. C. S. Kittredge, Mrs. Anna K. 

Bennett, Mrs. F. E. Lincoln, Miss E. M. 

Burditt, Mrs. F. W. Moore, Miss Emma C. 

Chaney, Mrs. Caroline I. Rogers, Mrs. L. E. 

Chaney, George L. Rogers, Carl 

Chaney, Oliver Carter Rogers, Ralph E. 

Chase, Charles S. Russell, Perley M. 

Gallup, Mrs. Sarah F. Russell, Mrs. Estelle W. 

Gibbs, H. Wilson Russell, Mrs. Martha M, 

Gates, Miss Abbie E. Tucker, Frank R. 

Gates, Miss Fannie P. Tucker, Mrs. Eva L. 
Greenwood, Miss Helen W. Tolman, Mrs. Mary A. 

Hale, Miss Annie C. Wheeler, Miss Florence E. 

Hobbs, Mrs. Jennie Woods, Mrs. D. M. 

Honorary Members. 
Edgerly, Sophronia, Perry, Mr. Willard 

Bodge, Rev. George M. Newton, Sarah 

Phillips, Mrs. Abbie R. * Piper, Mrs. Porter 

Marshall, Mrs. Sarah *Lincoln, Miss Mary Ann 

Lawrence, Miss Elizabeth Small, Mr. Ernest W. 

Corresponding Member. 

Wilder, Mrs. Fannie G. 

♦Deceased. 



CONSTITUTION 21 

CONSTITUTION OF THE LEOMINSTER 
HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



Article 1. The name of the Society shall be The Leominster 
Historical Society. 



Article 2. The object of the Society is the collection, preser- 
vation and study of historical matters, pertaining to the 
town and its inhabitants. 

OFFICERS, 

Article 3. The officers of this society shall be a President, 
two Vice Presidents, Secretary and a Treasurer, to be 
elected by ballot at the annual meeting, to hold office 
for one year or until other officers are chosen. At the 
same meeting three other members shall be chosen in a 
like manner, and for a like term, who, together with the 
officers, shall have general charge of all matters per- 
taining to the interests of the society. The board shall ap- 
point a curator and may appoint other committees a^ 
occasion requires. 

DUTIES OF OFFICERS. 

Article A. 1. It shall be the duty of the President to pre- 
side at the meetings of the society. In his absence it shall 
be the duty of the First Vice President, and in his ab- 
sence, the duty of the second Vice President to preside, 
and in the absence of all three, a President pro tempore 
shall be chosen. 

2. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep in a book 
for that purpose, a record of all meetings of the society, 
to issue all notices of the meetings of the society, to noti- 
fy all members of their election to office who may not be 
present at the time of their election to office, to conduct 
the general correspondence of the society, and at the ex- 
piration of his term of office, to turn over to his successor 
all books and papers belonging to the society. 

3. The Treasurer shall be sole custodian of all funds of 
the society. He shall assess and collect all dues and 



22 LEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

taxes voted by the society. Shall disburse the money so 
received and collected, on a written order signed by the 
President and Secretary, but not otherwise. He shall 
keep in a book provided for that purpose a true account 
of all receipts and disbursements, shall submit the same 
to the inspection of any member when requested; and 
shall, at the expiration of his term of office, deliver into 
the hands of his successor, all books, papers and other 
property, belonging to the society. 

4. The curator shall be the sole custodian, and have 
charge or care of all books, pamphlets, coins, relics, 
portraits and other collections belonging to the society. 
Shall list the same in a book kept for that purpose and 
shall at the annual meeting, give a full report of his work 
during the year. 

MEETINGS. 

Article 5. The annual meeting for the election of officers and 
such other business as may properly and legally come be- 
fore the society, shall be held on the second Thursday of 
February of each year, at which time the annual reports 
of the officers shall be presented in writing. The regular 
meetings shall be held on the second Thursday of each 
month, save July and August. Special meetings may be 
called at any time by the executive committee. 

MEMBERS. 

Article G. 1. Any person may be elected a member by a 
ballot at a regular meeting, by a majority vote of the 
members present and voting, the name of such person 
having been proposed in writing by a member in good 
standing at a previous meeting. No person shall be con- 
sidered a member until he has signed the constitution 
and paid to the treasurer, the annual dues of fifty cents. 
2. Active members may become life members by the 
payment at any time of $10.00 into the treasury of the 
society and thereafter shall be exempt from all assess- 
ments. 

HONORARY MEMBERS. 

Article 7. Honorary and corresponding members and all per- 
sons not residing in Leominster, to be known as corre- 



CONSTITUTION 23 

sponding members, who may wish to join the society, may 
be elected by ballot at a regular meeting by a majority 
vote of the members present and voting. The name of 
such persons having been proposed in writing by a mem- 
ber of the executive committee. 

DUTIES OF MEMBERS. 

Article 8. 1. It shall be the duty of members to fill any of- 
fice or perform any service to which they may be elected 
or appointed, to contribute as far as possible to the num- 
ber and value of the society's collection; to interest per- 
sons of similar tastes and pursuits and increase the mem- 
bership to the extent of their power. 
2. It will be expected of Honorary and Corresponding 
members that they will endeavor to add to the society's 
collections and advance the success of the society by cor- 
respondence or otherwise as they are able. Both Hono- 
rary and Corresponding members shall be entitled to all 
the privileges of active members, except the right to hold 
office, and shall be exempt from the dues and all assess- 
ments. 

DUES. 

Article 9. The annual dues shall be collected at the annual 
meeting. 

QUORUM. 

Article 10. Seven members shall constitute a quorum for the 
transaction of business. 

FAILURES AND VS^ITHDRAWALS. 

Article 11. 1. Any member who for two consecutive years 
shall fail to pay any assessment made in accordance with 
the provisions of the constitution, and shall give no sat- 
isfactory reason therefor, shall cease to be a member of 
the society and the Treasurer shall notify the Secretary, 
who shall make a record of the fact. 
2. Any member may withdraw from the society by giv- 
ing notice of his intentions to the Secretary and paying 
all assessments, due at the time of giving such notice, 
and the Secretary shall make a record of the fact. 



24 LEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

AMENDMENTS. 

Article 12. The constitution may be altered or amended by 
a two-thirds vote of all present and voting at any annual 
meeting, provided notice of the intended change shall 
have been given in writing at two previous regular meet- 
ings. 

Amendment I. Article V. By striking out the words "sec- 
ond Thursday of February" and inserting the words, 
"third Wednesday of November," and by striking out the 
words "second Thursday," and inserting the words, 
"third "Wednesday." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 077 510 1 ^ 



